Its best you ask this question to a well-known astrologer. I am not well-versed in this, I do not want to talk about it. NASA says something, someone else says something else, and I have only travelled by flight. I have not seen any stars or planets. Neither I am an astrologer nor an astronomer. So I will not comment on this. There is a book called ‘Gola’. You can read that. Why should I go about clarifying someone else’s theory or discovery?

If you now go to a Navagraha temple and tell them to remove Rahu and Ketu, they will instead knock-off two of your teeth and send you back with only 30 teeth! During all ages, from time immemorial, the Navagrahas have been worshipped. Perhaps, as a result of these extensive prayers, Rahu and Ketu may have become manifest, who knows? I have only seen the 9 planets consecrated in the Venkateshwara temple here. Of these, Lord Shani is worshipped extensively. So are other planets angered by this? I do not know!

What is Milky Way? It is the collection of many constellation of stars. There are so many such milky ways in this creation. In such infinite creation, you say that the 2 planets are taken into account incorrectly in this particular universe of ours. Do you know if there are other Milky Ways which have 9 planets in them? Can you answer affirmatively? It is possible that there could be such creations with nine planets. They may be known by different names there. When we do not know for sure, we cannot conclude decisively. There is nothing that I can say with authority. I am not a scientist.

But I know that our ancient philosophers were far more qualified and knowledgeable than the scientists of today. So I do not think that they uttered falsehood. perhaps they were referring to some other Earth in this infinite creation.

There are many contradictions already in this world. Why should we add to it? I can only talk of what I know. I believe that Rahu and Ketu exist. I believe in this ancient philosophy as per our scriptures. We have traditionally worshipped the 9 planets and I continue to do so. That’s all.

We are currently in the age of discovery and research, not of evidence. We are still discovering new planets. Our astrologers of the ancient past had long ago mentioned that Rahu and Ketu are not planets, but are considered shadow planets as they are not in gross form. It is mentioned even in Panchanga. That was the age of evidence. That was when the Navagraha Stotra was composed. Just as Sunrays do not exactly resemble the Sun, but are considered akin to Sun due to their properties, these shadow planets are considered similar to planets due to their properties. Astrology believes in the existence of these planets.

Scientists recently eliminated Pluto. They thought Earth was flat also. Now they rediscovered that the Earth is round. This was also accepted. Until the law of Gravity was discovered, beliefs in this subject were vastly differently. We are very backward with respect to this discovery. Science is yet to discover.

(Q&A Session, 14 Aug 2016)